Coles to Testify in Alabama Suit

A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist will testify in a closely watched suit in which fundamentalist Christians have charged that Alabama school children are being indoctrinated into the "religion of secular humanism."

Dr. Robert M. Coles '50, a professor of psychiatry at the Medical School, will testify October 22 on behalf of the defense in a class action suit pending in Federal Court in Mobile County, Ala.

The testimony will be based on a series of interviews with plaintiffs' children seeking to discover how they have been affected by the alleged secular humanism of the textbooks, the professor of psychiatry and medical humanities said.

The plaintiffs in Smith v. Board of Mobile County allege that the secular humanism found in the textbooks and the teachings in the Alabama Public School System hinder the parents' efforts to install religious values at home, said Ricki L. Seidman, director of a defense fund helping finance the suit.

Coles, who teaches one of the most popular courses at Harvard, General Education 105, "The Literature of Social Reflection," said that the plaintiffs say that secular humanism is a religion contrary to their own religion and that it violates their Constitutional rights.

To establish that people's rights are being violated, it is necessary to prove thatthere has been some effect on the children, whichis why Coles is testifying, Seidman said.

Coles, who has written an acclaimed series ofbooks of "The Children of Crisis," declined to saywhat his testimony will conclude.

To prepare for the case, Coles is interviewingsome of the plaintiffs' children and then iscomparing them to other Southern children whom hehas interviewed to see if the textbooks have hadnegative influences on them.

But he said he feels that his testimony willnot be very decisive since the case is such a"large-scale argument," involving "textbooks, thenature of religion, the nature of religion in theminds of children, what constitutes religion,etcetera."

Although Coles is but one of several testifyingfor the defense, the Harvard psychiatrist'stestimony will make a difference since it willshow that books, regardless of the content, do notadversely affect children, said Seidman who worksfor the lobbying group People for the AmericanWay.

Coles has testified in similar cases before.This summer he testified in a Tennessee case inwhich parents said their children were beingtaught Darwin evolutionism, he said.

The Washington, D.C., law firm of Hogan andHartson is conducting the defense. Their legalfees are paid by People for the American Way andthe American Civil Liberties Union. The plaintiffsare being financed by fundamentalist preacher theRev. Pat Robertson, said Coles